I was in Yokohama, Japan, last week for the Lenovo ThinkPad 25th anniversary celebration. Most of the media in attendance were from Europe, South America, and Asia Pacific; I was the only US analyst there because I worked on the ThinkPad's predecessor—IBM's first clamshell, which came to market in 1988.

Until 1986, most portable computers—like the original Compaq, Kaypro, and Osborne—were known as "luggables." But at CEBIT in March 1986, Toshiba introduced the first real commercial clamshell, kicking off the race to have the smallest and lightest laptop.

At this time, I was one of only a few outside market research analysts who was brought into IBM to help with marketing and positioning of future PC products. When IBM decided it too needed to do a clamshell, I spent much of 1987 flying between Austin, TX—where it was designed—and Boca Raton, FL—where its marketing plans were being developed.

By 1991, IBM began to shift its focus away from the rather bland-looking clamshell to a machine with a serious focus on industrial design. The ThinkPad team was born, and included legendary design guru Richard Sapper, David Hill, and Arimasa Naitoh.

Naitoh-san was on hand at the Yokohama event, where he told me that once IBM really grasped the importance of industrial design, it became a key element of a whole host of products and services tied to the ThinkPad.

According to Hill, the first ThinkPad design was not a clamshell, but a tablet with a stylus. If you know your PC history, Microsoft became a big fan of tablets and pen-based computing as early as 1991, and was trying to get its partners to back the idea. But the ThinkPad team was not convinced; the Thinkpad 700C laptop was introduced in 1992.

A review from the Dec. 22, 1992 issue of PC Magazine

Interestingly, Sapper's inspiration for the original ThinkPad came from a Bento Box—a box with multiple smaller boxes inside to hold various types of food. He translated that into the ThinkPad's boxy frame with various sections optimized for computing tasks.

One interesting tidbit that Hill shared at the event is that the ThinkPad's distinctive red TrackPoint center button almost never happened. Execs told Sapper he could not use red since that was the color of the emergency off button on IBM's mainframes.

Sapper argued that there was no relationship between a red emergency button and a red TrackPoint, but IBM legal prevailed. Sapper compromised by tinting the red color a bit and calling it magenta. Ironically, when the first ThinkPad shipped, engineers made the TrackPoint button more red than magenta and did not get grief from IBM legal after that.

Related

From IBM's standpoint, the ThinkPad became its flagship portable PC, even though it still made desktops. But as early as 2003, IBM was wrestling with the idea of whether to stay in the PC market. Demand for PCs had started to peak and IBM was already starting to move more into software and services. So in mid-2005, IBM sold its PC business to Lenovo. This was a pretty radical move for IBM and Lenovo; until then, no Chinese company had acquired a major US company, especially one as iconic and powerful as IBM's PC business.

To Lenovo's credit, it maintained all of IBM's PC contracts, which included major PC buyers in business, the military, and other government firms. Still, many entities were leery of providing confidential data to a Chinese company. It took awhile to sort this out, but the ThinkPad line continued. Just look at the ThinkPad numbers sold in the last 25 years. Until 2005, when Lenovo took over IBM's PC business, IBM had sold 25 million ThinkPads. Since then, Lenovo has sold another 105 million.

In any industry, it is difficult to maintain one product design for a few years, let alone 25. Going forward, I imagine Sapper's original design parameters will continue to guide the look and feel of any ThinkPad-branded product in the future. Naitoh-san says he's most interested in the concept of a folding portable laptop. I love that idea, and hope he and his team can create it.

About the Author

Tim Bajarin is recognized as one of the leading industry consultants, analysts, and futurists covering the field of personal computers and consumer technology. Mr. Bajarin has been with Creative Strategies since 1981 and has provided research to most of the leading hardware and software vendors in the industry including IBM, Apple, Xerox, Compaq, D... See Full Bio

Get Our Best Stories!

This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.